


He's Lucky to Have You

by WordsFromAsh



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, adrienette - Freeform, plagg cares deeply for both the kids even if he won't admit it, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 19:53:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6821764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsFromAsh/pseuds/WordsFromAsh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette attempts to have a heart-to-heart with Plagg - or at least the closest thing one can consider as a heart-to-heart with the shrewd kwami. She just wants him to admit that he cares about Adrien like Tikki does her. Is that too much to ask for?</p>
            </blockquote>





	He's Lucky to Have You

It was a lazy Sunday if Marinette ever had to define one. The storm that raged in the early morning had evened off into a constant pitter-patter against her window. Her room was cozy and the blanket falling from her shoulders certainly didn’t help her current sleepy state. Neither did the sight of Tikki curled up next to Marinette’s history book getting some well-deserved rest.

Marinette yawned, not even bothering to cover her mouth this time.

She crossed her arms in front of her book and rested her chin on top of them. She stared at the textbook, having read the same sentence again for maybe the tenth time. Probably the thirtieth if she were to be honest. The ever studious Adrien hadn’t disrupted her with a lame joke for the past ten minutes because unlike her, he could study. She should take after his example and _focus_ but homework was never a fit for a lazy Sunday.

No one could fault her for sleeping in lieu of studying either. Especially not Adrien who knew very well that she’d been out in that storm at 3am that morning to deal with an akuma.

Besides, it’d only be a short nap. A _cat_ nap if he willed. She snorted at the lamest pun of them all before her head tipped to the side and her eyes slid shut.

 

She’d only been asleep for a minute, if that, before something tugged on her pigtail. She grumbled, but turned her head. Only after she settled back to a peaceful decline into sleep did she feel another pull, this one a bit sharper. “Adrien,” she mumbled into her arm. She lifted a hand up to swat at him but caught only air. “Stop it.”

Another tug, this time on her bangs.

“ _Adrien_.” Marinette scowled and swatted again. Still nothing. Damn his stupid reflexes to—

“Quiet,” a voice huffed that was definitely not Adrien.

Marinette’s head shot up with a scream stuck in her throat.

“ _Watch it_ ,” they hissed again in a pointedly low voice.

Marinette looked up to where Plagg was in the process of flipping upside right in the air. She assumed he just missed being smacked by her. “What’s the matter?” Her grogginess already started to clear. Her hand reached out to wake Tikki in case something was amiss in Paris.

Plagg balanced himself midair with his tail. “I’m hungry,” he warbled.

And with that Marinette groaned as she fell forward to rest her head on her desk. She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand. The tiredness began to creep back in on her and she tried to keep the frustration out of her voice. “You woke me for that? I just fell asleep, Plagg.”

The kwami’s ears twitched in otherwise concealed amusement. “You’ve been asleep for over an hour.” He sniffed. “Almost two.”

“ _What_?” Marinette sat up again in a renewed panic. Oh no. No, no, no. Her nap was supposed to be _little_. This wasn’t little this was—

Plagg bolted forward. His tiny paws pressed against her lips trying to silence her. His eyes narrowed at her, which was fine because she narrowed hers right back at him. She was fine with Plagg for the most part. Much more so than Adrien was at least. It took a lot of his standoffish attitude to break her patience, but that meant nothing now as she quickly grabbed him and pulled him away. She made sure to hold him at eye level like Adrien did—though she at least had the decency not to pluck Plagg up at the back of the neck like Adrien.

“Stop that,” Marinette hissed in a low whisper to appease Plagg.

Plagg pouted in front of her; ears flattened and eyes narrowed. “You’re usually nicer than this.” He folded his arms over to add to the matter-of-fact tone he used.

Marinette tried to keep her expression steeled, though her hold on him weaken. “Yeah, well, usually I’m not so rudely woken.” She brushed her free hand through her hair. “I think you pulled some hair out.”

“You were difficult to wake,” Plagg said still in that matter-of-fact tone he used on a near-constant basis. His eyes stayed focus on her, but she could hear the eye-roll in his words.

“There was no reason to wake me, Plagg. Adrien knows where we keep the cheese just as well as I do, don’t you A…drien,” Marinette trailed off in a small voice as she spun around in her chair. Despite her small frown, her chest warmed at the sight of Adrien sprawled out on her chaise lounge. His head lolled to the side in a way that didn’t look too comfortable. His pen was still held between his fingers and book propped up on his knees. His mouth opened slightly and his chest fell and rose evenly with each breath.

“He’s asleep,” Plagg commented lazily.

Marinette looked away from the sleeping boy to give a blank look at the cat kwami. “I can see that now.”

“And I’m still hungry.”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t have woken him instead.”

“Couldn’t wake him. Does it matter?” Plagg’s tail brushed against her hand as it slowly swung left and right. It tickled. It also almost distracted Marinette from seeing the way Plagg’s gaze wavered for a split second to glance at Adrien. “You’re the one awake now. Now get me cheese.”

The two stared at each other for a bit longer, both challenging the other to back down, before finally Marinette let out a long suffering sigh and slumped back in her chair. “Fine.”

She let go of Plagg and grabbed the blanket that had completely fallen off her and draped from her chair to the floor. In a large gesture, she flung it around her shoulders like a cape and pulled it close across her chest. “Come on,” she mumbled.

With one more look at Adrien blissfully sleeping, Marinette turned on her heel. She barely waited for Plagg to zip into a secure hiding spot in one of the blanket’s folds by her chest before she was opening the hatch to downstairs. She kept her steps light and avoided the stair with the creak in case Adrien could still hear it. It was amazing how much of a—

Marinette stopped mid-step. She looked down at the kwami, smug with getting his way. Couldn’t _wake_ him? _Adrien_? Adrien was the lightest sleeper she _knew_ and Plagg couldn’t _wake_ him?

“Well?” Plagg drew out impatiently.

Marinette blinked and resisted an eye-roll. “Be patient.” She pulled the blanket higher up around her, careful not to step on the parts that dragged around her feet.

The living room and kitchen were both empty with her parents probably swamped with the constant Sunday rush in the bakery. Plagg took this as good enough of an invite to leave his hiding spot and zipped ahead of her towards the fridge.

Marinette ignored the way the kwami couldn’t stay still in the air, too excited for cheese but at least considerate enough not to just phase through the fridge to get it himself. She had to give him that. “How are you even hungry?” Marinette said as she pulled open the door. Plagg swiftly moved out of the way and hung behind her shoulder, watching her rummage through their cheese drawer. “I know for a fact you were fed when you guys first arrived.”

Swiss. Cheddar. _Aged_ cheddar.

Plagg emitted an overdramatic whine. “The kid didn’t feed me this morning. Can you believe it?”

Marinette snorted. More like she couldn’t believe Adrien managed his morning without Plagg’s constant complaints if it was true that he hadn’t been fed.

Brie. Provolone.

“He forgot to set his alarm and overslept. The Kid Ignored me and rushed to fencing,” Plagg explained, sounding absolutely tragic. “Almost left me behind. He’s so cruel to me.”

Marinette paused in her search. She was careful to cover her developing grin with the edge of the blanket and hummed in agreeance, amused at Plagg’s antics. She didn’t bother to argue that Adrien would never forget Plagg. He could never leave Plagg behind no matter how much he threatened so and not just because it would lead to possibly dangerous circumstances. Instead she made a mental note to text her parents that Adrien would stay for dinner and would be hungry. If he overslept enough not to feed Plagg, then she was positive he hadn’t been able to eat either.

There, in the back, was _exactly_ what Marinette was looking for. Her parents didn’t question why she kept a small wheel of camembert when none of them liked it. Nor did her parents question how quickly the cheese disappeared on a regular basis.

Plagg shot up at least half a foot as she pulled out what was left of the wheel and kicked the fridge door closed. “Have I ever told you how much better you treat me than him?” Plagg all but sang as he followed behind her.

Marinette shook her head. She pulled a plate down from the cabinet and a knife from the wood block. “Plagg,” she said with a light warning to his name.

“What? It’s true. Tikki has it too good with her Ladybugs.”

Marinette looked up from the wedge she currently sliced. “You know Adrien loves you as much as I love Tikki or else he wouldn’t spend his whole allowance on camembert.”

Plagg pulled a face at that. “But he’s soft. Not like my other Chat Noirs.”

Marinette smiled at that. Adrien was a softy. He was also sensitive, affectionate, and a total dork, too. How did she get so lucky?

She sat the knife down and handed Plagg a small wedge. He took it with gusto, not even stopping to thank her before he began to shove it in his mouth. “I don’t believe that. Nor do I believe that you’re so against it as you let on.”

He glared at her from around what was left of the cheese wedge. His mouth full and he was unable to argue back yet. Marinette used that to her advantage. “In fact, I think deep down you’re just as big of a softy.”

Plagg swallowed the entire mouthful in one go. He snorted. “I may be many things, but I am _not_ that.” He scowled at her, offended. And then he tried to dart for another slice of camembert.

Marinette waved him away when he got too close. Plagg frowned, obviously not thrilled with being denied his cheese. “Then tell me,” Marinette started and leaned against the counter. She pulled the plate of camembert wedges onto the other side of her so that she stood as a barrier between kwami and cheese.

“What’s this?” Plagg said and flew up so he was eye level with her.

She ignored him. “Why’d you lie to me?”

“The cheese,” Plagg said and tried to dive for the plate. Marinette simply cut him off with her hand.

“Uh-uh. You’ll get it after you answer me. Why’d you lie?”

Plagg drifted back in the air while rubbing the space between his eyes where he’d smacked into her hand. Never— _never—_ had Marinette had Plagg give her such an angry glare before. Adrien? Sure. Maybe. Her? No.

“Are you really holding cheese as a hostage?”

Marinette nodded, happy with herself.

“I can take it any time I want, you know.”

She shrugged.

He narrowed his eyes further. His tail swished, agitated. His ears pulled back and if he was a real cat, Marinette swore his hair would be standing and back arched. “I _don’t_ lie.”

“Adrien keeps all of his alarms pre-set on his phone so he can’t forget to set them,” Marinette said and readjusted part of the blanket that started to fall from her slender shoulders. “So how did he oversleep if he couldn’t have forgotten to set it?”

Plagg’s tail stopped and he fell some in the air. His constantly shrewd expression faltered. “So? He slept through it.”

“Is that so?”

Plagg said nothing and they entered their second silent staring match of the day. This time, Marinette refused to be the one to cave. She rested an elbow on the counter and propped her chin up in the palm of her hand. She raised an eyebrow. “You realize we’re talking about Adrien, here. Adrien, who sleeps like a cat. Adrien, who doesn’t sleep _through_ things.” Granted, when he woke up, he usually fell back to sleep immediately with no recollection of stirring awake at all if nothing continued to prompt him awake. But that was beside the point. An alarm lasted long enough to wake him.

“So?”

Marinette reached blindly with her free hand for the plate of camembert and pulled it closer so it sat in front of her. “ _So,_ I’m saying that that’s why you wanted me to be quiet upstairs. I’m also saying that you turned off his alarm this morning so that he could sleep in. You even put in the effort to wake me up--and I don't wake up for anything--just so Adrien could continue to sleep up there.” Marinette was tempted to ask how long Plagg had tried to wake her before she finally stirred but instead only picked up a piece of camembert and held it out towards him.

Plagg looked between her and the cheese, only diving for it once she gave him a shallow nod. He hugged it to his body as best he could like she’d steal it right back. He looked at her skeptically. “And _why_ would I do that?”

“Because you know probably better than even I do that Adrien’s schedule has been hectic and he hasn’t been sleeping as much as he should be lately. If it wasn’t for the rain cancelling his photoshoot he’d still be out there sleep-deprived. You’re looking out for him.” Her voice jumped up a few pitches as her grin infected it. “Because you care, you big softy you.”

“You have no proof,” Plagg said with a defensive turn of his head. He was flustered, or the closest thing to flustered Plagg could get Marinette decided. Good.

Marinette hummed before she lifted her head up and pushed off of the counter. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

Marinette shrugged and picked up the plate full of cheese. She spun on her heel again and began to walk upstairs. “I guess you did,” she called out, still playing along even though both she and Plagg knew the truth and recognized the truth even if he wouldn’t outright admit it.

Plagg finished the last bit of the second wedge as he cut her off at the bottom of her steps. He swooped in close to her face and peered at her again. “Why are you still grinning? You shouldn’t be grinning like that.”

“Because,” Marinette said slow and sweet. “Adrien’s lucky to have you.”

Plagg floated a bit closer and peered at her like she had two incredibly stupid heads. “You realize I’m bad luck, don't you?”

Marinette made a noise in the back of her throat and waved a hand dismissively at the statement. “Doesn’t matter. I’m glad Adrien was never completely alone with you there and never will be alone because he’ll always have you to depend on. So thank you.” It came naturally really, with all the times she’d done the exact same gesture to Tikki, for her to duck forward and peck Plagg’s forehead.

He did not appreciate it like Tikki did. Instead of nuzzling her cheek, Plagg somersaulted out of her arm’s reach before she could fully pull away from him. His face pulled into one of disgust—eyes squinted shut and tongue sticking out—as he tried to scrub away at his forehead like a child. “I forgot that _this_ is my problem with Ladybugs,” Plagg yowled. “You’re all too affectionate. It rots my kittens. Turns them soft.”

She laughed quietly as Plagg continued to grumble. He quieted only once they reached her room without Marinette even needing to place a finger to her lips to signal him to do so.

Marinette sat the cheese down on her desk a good distance away from where her workspace was set up—her hands would surely smell from handling it, but it didn’t mean she wanted the source of the smell close to her. Plagg landed in the middle of the cheese wedges, still focused with licking his paws and trying to wipe her kiss away to pick up any of the cheese. Just as Marinette was about to sit down, she paused with a look to Adrien over her shoulder.

Her fingers clutched at the blanket around her. It was cozy in her room with the rain still falling outside creating a thin fog against her windows. A blanket made it all the more comfortable, though. She made her way as silent as she could to her chaise. Behind her, she could almost sense Plagg pause on gorging himself with cheese in order to watch her as she gently removed the pen from Adrien’s hand. Next she picked the book up off his lap, pausing briefly as he shifted in his sleep to turn on his side now that a heavy weight didn’t pin his legs down. She placed the pen inside the book to mark the page and sat it down on the floor next to his other work.

She pulled the blanket off her shoulder before she clumsily draped it over him. He curled up underneath it and turned his head. His eyes closed tighter. “Mari?”

“Sshhh, yeah, it’s me.” She smiled fondly down at him as he hummed in his sleep, content with her answer. “Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up later.”

He pulled the blanket up and burrowed his face into it. “Mmmkay.”

She lingered there for a second, telling herself she wasn’t admiring but making sure that he settled back into a peaceful sleep. And then she turned, pulled on an oversized sweater to make up for no blanket, and made her way back to her desk. It wasn’t necessarily late in the afternoon. At least, not late enough that he’d be pressed for time to finish all his work after some well-deserved sleep.

She picked up her own pen and placed the back end of it between her lips. She stared at the history book again, too zoned out to even find a sentence on the page.

“You’re wrong,” Plagg said, breaking the silence that the room lulled into as well as her unfocused concentration. He left his plate and lazily drifted to sit on her shoulder. He surprised her further by curling up in the crook of her neck so that the sweater’s bulky neckline covered him. He was warm against her. “It's not me. He's lucky to have you.”

Marinette paused. She had expected Plagg to contradict how he cared for Adrien. She hadn’t expected something so sentimental from the snarky kwami. She stilled completely, scared that if a muscle so much as twitched that Plagg would zip off and back to his precious camembert and pretend the whole thing never happened. When he didn’t move, she slowly relaxed back into her chair.

They sat in another bit of silence before she smiled and quietly corrected him on something they could hopefully both agree on. “We're lucky to have him.”

Marinette thought she felt a purr reverberate through Plagg. He hadn’t disagreed.

 


End file.
